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{
    "id": 1219316,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1219316/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 182,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Mosop, UDA",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. Abraham Kirwa",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": "even more. When it was started, we never envisioned things like the COVID-19 pandemic that came up and affected many companies. The EPZs are struggling to stay afloat because, as we speak, they may have laid off many of their employees. It is, therefore, time to relook at it and figure out what incentives we can give to the traders and those who are involved in making sure that EPZs continue to thrive. We cannot use the regulations that were there before the COVID-19 pandemic, because the cost of production has gone up, including the cost of raw materials and fuel. We have not gone back to see what we can do to sustain them. Currently, the country is facing shortage of currencies like the US Dollar because we are no longer exporting many products. We are using the little dollars that we have to buy imports. Had we invested a lot in the EPZs, we would have quite a bit of dollars that would have helped us to truly generate and keep our economy. But because we did not do that, we are suffering. One of the areas that we ought to invest in is those EPZs and, as such, I truly stand to support this Motion by Hon. Elachi. We ought to give them the subsidies. She talked of the 20 per cent waiver to enable them to continue earning instead of them shutting down. All over the world, most industries are subsidised. Most countries have given subsidies to their industrial companies so that they can continue to employ. As we said, most of our people are now going out of this country. They are going to Australia and the USA because they have shortage of labour there. Their industrial companies are hiring and they need people who can work manually. In Kenya, we need to take advantage of this. As much as we are ‘exporting’ people outside this country, we need to also invest, as most of the Members have said. If you go to New York or Dallas to purchase a shirt or a trouser, you will run into a Kenyan made shirt or trouser costing maybe USD120, which is approximately Ksh13,000 here. If you go to a local market, you may not be able to purchase that kind of product because it might be above the average Kenyan but, at the same time, it will help us bring a lot of income into our country. I support this Motion that we need to enhance the EPZ programmes in the country to allow traders to continue with their trading. Thank you, Hon. Temporary Speaker for giving me this opportunity to support this Motion. Thank you."
}